wingless' 1968 Fiat 500L

[wingless]

The automotive auction sites send me daily alerts that I peruse to see whatever is interesting.

 

This restored 1968 Fiat 500L again showed up on the PCARMarket site and I decided to purchase that vehicle. It did not sell several months earlier on a prior auction. 

 

The auction paperwork shows it registered in Italy from new through 2015.

 

A U-Haul flatbed trailer will be used to collect this vehicle and bring it home.

 

It has a great restoration, retaining some imperfections.

 

This has a two cylinder 500cc 21hp rear air cooled engine. It is under 10' long and about 4' wide. It is just over 1k pounds mass.

 

It should be fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Eric - TIA]

Wow, that is pristine looking.  

[wingless]

Thanks, yes it looks like a very nice restoration.

 

Will be getting it next week.

[wingless]

Was popping around in it this past weekend.

 

It is sooo different driving a vehicle w/o a synchronized transmission. It is always examining traffic to limit shifting.

 

The upshifts are "easy" w/o any gear clashing, using double clutching, step on clutch, shift to neutral, release clutch, step on clutch, shift to next gear.

 

The downshifts work by "blipping" the throttle after mashing the clutch, then clunking it into the next lower gear. Otherwise it totally grinds and impossible to get into gear until stopped.

 

Starting vehicle also interesting: transmission to neutral; dash key switch clockwise; lift choke lever (between seats) for cold start; lift start lever to crank, then gradually lower choke lever.

 

The vehicle was in Italy until recently. It included a "passport" w/ a front photo, showing it's small Italian embossed letters black background white letters front license plate, w/ "VT" showing it comes from the Province of Viterbo and also included the registration booklet, w/ a sticker and stamp for each registration year, also showing that 71655-VT registration. 

 

That original vacuum formed front plastic plate was gone, but that small front plate bracket was still attached to the vehicle.

 

The Licenseplates.TV company creates replica license plates, using imported Italian aluminum plate blanks, including this 1932 to 1976 Italy mini Euro embossed front license plate. This was ordered and arrived in less than a week. They use a decal for the Italian Republic emblem, instead of the original printed symbol.

 

The small front plate bracket was unbolted from the bumper, the corner tapping screws removed, holes drilled in the plate corners, plate screwed to bracket and bracket bolted back onto bumper. The result is exactly what I hoped.